Fortune Jr. Wins Memphis OMA
V
isiting the Kirkpatrick land
north of Memphis, Missouri,
May 22-23, round two of the
OMA Nationals Series, the Team
K Outfitters Sarge XC presented
by FamMX and co-sanctioned
with MXC and IERA, took place
on a course that was pummeled
by rain. But that only seemed
to play into the hands of Illinois'
own Tommy Fortune Jr. (Yam)
who needed just two minutes
on Bryan Johnson (Kawasaki) to
claim the overall win after nearly
two hours of racing in the slop.
The next-best rider, TJ Nees
(FunMart Cycle G2 KTM 250),
was a bit farther back, taking the
checkered flag a little more than
14 minutes later.
The weather forecast called
for sunny and mild on Saturday.
It was wrong! Rain earlier in the
week left the ground saturated
and continuous drizzle overnight
Friday combined with off-and-
on rain Saturday morning made
conditions less than favorable.
While the rain did finally cease
before the one-hour delayed
afternoon start, the trails were left
in a quagmire.
The two morning races, Youth
and C classes, utilized much of
the same six-mile trail that the
afternoon Pro-Am race would
follow. After one hour and 52
minutes and five laps of strug-
gling through the mud it was
Fortune Jr., aka "Buddy," taking
the checkers aboard his Mom
and Dad-sponsored G2 Douglas
and Frye Yamaha YZ250.
"Old man" Johnson put his
Moose Racing FMF Kawasaki
250F on the podium after get-
ting off to a slow start. TJ Nees
rounded out the Pro-Am podium,
finishing third overall.
"It was great. It felt good," said
Buddy. "It [the mud] wasn't too
bad. There was a lot of single-
trail. It was definitely challeng-
ing where you had to think real
smart. There were holes every-
where. Pretty much every other
corner. I basically just tried to
IN
THE
WIND
P54
Overall winner Tommy
Fortune Jr. welcomed
the muddy conditions
at OMA's The Sarge XC
in Memphis, Tennessee.
PHOTOS: JOHN GASSO
